Are We There Yet?

SUMMARY

Karl Ihfe continues the "Expectation Gap" series by tackling the third gap: we believe God wants us to grow, but we're often disappointed by our progress. Speaking honestly about his own 37-year journey with Christ, Karl admits he thought he'd be "a little further along" by now - more patient, less selfish, quicker to forgive. He suggests that part of our struggle comes from misusing Scripture by always asking "What should I do?" instead of first asking "What does this teach me about God?"

Using the familiar story from Matthew 14 of Jesus walking on water, Karl offers a fresh perspective. While we typically focus on Peter's boldness in stepping out of the boat, Karl points out a crucial detail: 92% of the disciples stayed in the boat, yet 100% of them worshiped when Jesus calmed the storm. The point of the story isn't Peter's faith or courage, but Jesus's sovereignty over wind and waves. Karl argues that we've turned Scripture into a highlight reel, stacking up impossible expectations - be bold like Peter, contemplative like Mary, courageous like Daniel, wise like Deborah. This creates exhausting pressure rather than genuine transformation. Instead, Jesus doesn't ask us to become someone else; He redeems our personalities and helps us become the best version of who we were created to be.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Well, if you have your Bible, I invite you to turn over to Matthew 14. We'll spend our time together there in that story. And I want us to reflect on it maybe in a different way than you have before. Certainly it's been different for me this week as I've tried to experience it once again. We're in a series called the Expectation Gap, where we've been noticing the gaps that often appear between what we believe about God and what we experience about him in our lives.

We've looked. We're looking at three different gaps in particular. The first one was we believe God loves us, but we struggle to feel it. And so we talked and thought some together about those voices in our head, that inner critic that likes to condemn us versus listening to the living word. Does he get the first word, the last word in our lives so that we can hear and actually see who God is and who he wants us to be, that we can feel God's love with us.

We talked about the gap last time about this. God is present with us, but we struggle to see it. So we spend some time thinking about our reactivity and our anxiety and how often that keeps us from seeing God's presence. You know, so often we're tempted to be God, and when we're tempted to be God, we're not focused on actually seeing him all around us or experiencing his presence with us. This morning, I want us to look at the third gap that Steve Cus points out in his book the Expectation Gap.

And it's we, we believe God wants us to grow, but we're disappointed or discouraged by our progress. Now, I don't know about you. I've been a Christian for 36 this May, 37 years. But if I could be honest for just a minute, I thought I'd be a little further, like, better at this. Have you ever felt that way?

Like, I've been following Jesus for a while. I've been doing a lot of praying, a lot of reading, spending a lot of time at church and small groups and. And that kind of thing. But I thought. I thought I'd be a little further down the road this morning.

I want us to talk about if you've ever felt that way, maybe this one is for you. You know, I thought I'd be a little more patient and a little less bothered or annoyed by people or circumstances. You know, I thought I would be a little more humble by now and a little less selfish, or maybe I'd be a little more of that quick to forgive and less of that Quick to be angry or upset, maybe lighthearted a little more, lighthearted a little less, Taking myself so seriously. Have you ever felt that way? Well, the good news is if you have, you're in the right place.

Because we're talking today about what that's like. And actually you're not failing at faith. You're actually being human. You know, failure is part of this growth process. It's not like we celebrate it and go, oh, wait, I failed today.

You know, instead we go, oh, yeah, God's still got some work to do in me. You know, Steve argues in his book, and I tend to agree with him, that maybe one of the reasons why we experience this gap so much is our use or maybe misuse, misunderstanding of scripture that we use it or we think about it maybe in some ways that aren't quite as helpful. You know, most of us were taught, either implicitly or explicitly, that when we read a passage of scripture, the first question we ask is, what is God asking me to do here? Or how should I respond to this? Or how can I apply this so that I can grow?

And then that's a good question to ask. You know, Scripture does teach and shape and form it. Also, we're told it transforms. And so that's an important question to ask. But if that's the only question that we ask, or if too often that's the first question that we ask, it actually can become a stumbling project because it takes every passage and it turns it into this self help, self improvement idea.

How do I read this passage and what can I do so that I can have a better life? And we go, okay, well, that may be a question we want to ask, but what if there's another question that maybe supersedes that one that we might want to think about? You see, if not, then when growth stalls and we stop experiencing kind of that transformation or that change that we were hoping for, we start to think, well, maybe there's something wrong with me. Or maybe in the past, I don't know about you, I've had some preachers talk to me about Jesus. Kind of like selling a vacuum cleaner.

It's the best vacuum cleaner. You'll never have to worry about it again. It's, if you just follow Jesus, you'll never have another problem. You'll never have a bad relationship. You'll never.

And then I encounter one and I think, is it me or is it the gospel? I mean, what's the problem? And so Steve says, I think we've been asking the wrong question. In fact, let's go look at the passage again. I think is a good example that Annie read for us just a moment ago.

Matthew, chapter 14. This chapter, it's an important chapter in Matthew's Gospel. It opens up with the story of the beheading of John the Baptist. And when Jesus finds out what's happened to his cousin, he takes his disciples and he goes off to a solitary place. Only the crowds saw where he was going.

And as he and his disciples are in the boat, they run around to the other side and they meet him when they land. And this is what Matthew tells us in verse 14. He says, When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and he healed their sick. And as evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, this is a remote place and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away so that they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.

Jesus replied, they do not need to go away. You give them something to eat. But we have here only five loaves of bread and two fish. They answered. And what unfolds is this incredible story, right?

It's the feeding of the 5,000, but that's actually a little bit of a misnomer because it's the feeding of 5,000 men. But there were women and children there, so there were probably at least double, maybe triple, quadruple the number of people. But this incredible miracle story happens. It's amazing. And after the crowds have been fed, everybody's been satisfied, he sends them away.

And he sends his disciples on ahead of him. He says, you guys hop in the boat, head over to the place we're going, and I'm going to go up on the mountain to pray. And so Jesus, in the evening, all the way late into the early morning, he spends in prayer. And as he's coming down from the mountain, he can see the boat out on the water, and it's being buffeted by the wind and the waves. And he can see the disciples.

They're struggling, trying to get this boat to go where they want it to go. And the waves are just brutal, beating them down right emotionally, physically, every which way. They're just struggling. And so we're told shortly before dawn, Jesus goes to them walking on the lake. And when the disciples see him, they saw him walking, they were terrified.

It's a ghost, they said, cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately says, take courage. It's I. Don't be afraid, Lord. If it's you, Peter says, tell me to come to you on the water.

I just think That's a fascinating question. That would not be the question that I would be asking. But I appreciate the heart behind it. Lord, if it's you, tell me to come and I will come. And he goes, right?

Amazing. He hops out of the boat. Jesus says, come. And he gets on the water. He's walking on the water.

He comes to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid. He begins to sink, and he cries out, lord, save me. And immediately, Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. You have little faith, said, why did you doubt?

When they climbed into the boat, the wind died down, and those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, truly, you are the son of God. Another amazing, incredible miracle happens, right? But did you catch it? Did you notice?

Here's the detail we normally miss. 92% of the disciples stayed in the boat.

100% of the disciples worshiped. Now, just hold on to that for a minute. You see, we tend to read this story, and immediately my mind, maybe yours too, goes to Peter. Man took courage to come out of the boat. Am I being bold like Peter?

Lord, where do I need to be bold in my life? Good question.

Where do I need to step out in faith? Good question.

Let's be honest. At least one of the disciples. And I'm putting my money, if I were a betting man on Matthew, one of the disciples is, like, over there running the risk assessment, okay? You got the buoyancy. Low wins, high probability of success.

Very low. Yeah, I ain't going. No way. Right? And Peter's, like, off into the water.

We have this picture before us, right, of 12 disciples, and they're trying to figure out, how do I follow Jesus in real life? He's standing on the water.

I'm in a boat, Peter's soaking wet. Lord save me. Matthew's over there, you know, working on that calculator. This is not a good idea.

The others are doing some version in between. But there's this question kind of hanging out over us with this story. Can the 92% still be considered fully devoted followers of Jesus?

Are they followers too? Like, they stayed in the boat? What do we do with that?

Or does faith only count if it's like Peter getting out of the boat?

You see, if we're not careful, we start stacking up our Bible stories like this highlight reel, you know, so week one, man, I gotta be bold like Peter. Let's go. This week, I'm gonna work on being bold. Next week, we hear the sermon about Mary and. And her willingness to treasure things in her heart.

Okay. I need to be contemplative. Okay. Add that bold like Peter, contemplative like Mary. Next week, restore you, Daniel.

Okay. Daniel, man, so much courage. Okay, So I need to be courageous. And then we read about the Judges and Deborah, and man, she was so. Okay, all right.

So bold like Peter, contemplative like Mary, courageous like Daniel, wise like Deborah. Got it. You guys good? Okay, we're good. And you think is that we take these point in time moments and we start stacking them up and say, well, this is what it means to be a disciple.

How you doing? How we doing out there, folks? Have you noticed this low grade pressure building even just talking about it? My professor in college used to say right before test time, he'd say there was 19 of us in our cohort. And he'd say, hey, you guys hear that giant sucking sound in the corner of the room?

It's coming for you.

I mean, imagine if somebody, if you said, what's it mean to be a good person? How do you live a good life? And they said, no problem. Let's do this right. You need to be as smart as Albert Einstein, gifted musically as Taylor Swift.

You need to be as compassionate as Mother Teresa. You need to be as courageous as Nelson Mandela. And you need to be as beautiful or handsome as Zoe Saldana or Glen Powell. Okay? Just do that.

And you're good. That's a good life. And you think it's impossible. Like what?

And yet spiritually, many of us carry this burden. Now, we don't often talk about it, right? We don't. We don't say the quiet part out loud. Like, I wasn't as bold as Peter this week.

How about you? Well, I wasn't as contemplative as Mary, but, you know, like, we don't talk about it in those circles, but we feel this pressure, don't we? Now, I don't know if you know this. Matthew is the only gospel to mention Peter going and walking on the water. Like, Mark and John tell this story, too.

Same story, but they don't mention Peter getting out of the boat. Do you ever wonder why? Like, did they forget? Oh, sorry. I mean, that'd be a hard event to forget, right?

Or they didn't want to give him too much love. Like, come on, man, you got a gospel. I'm not giving you more than that, you know? No, no. I think the point is not.

Look what a disciple can do if they just respond or have enough faith. I think the point of the story is Jesus is sovereign over everything, including the wind and the waves.

Like the Creator in Genesis, he says a word and the motion stops. You see, that's why at the end of the story, the response of the disciples is not, dude, Peter, that was incredible, man. No, no, they follow their knees.

Truly you are the Son of God. Like, the end of the story is worship. That's what happens. I think that's the point of the story.

One disciple walked, but all of them worshiped, all of them recognized and praised Jesus. See, here's the shift. We need to make that question. It's a good question. What do I need to work on?

That's a good question. That's not our first question when it comes to Scripture. Maybe it shouldn't even be our most important question, but rather, will we stop and behold who God is? Will we stop and recognize who it is that loves us, that has called us, that has invited us? You know, the gospels record around 50, depending on which scholar you want to go with 52, 57 days of Jesus, 1200 plus days of ministry.

We get to read about 50ish of them out of the 1200.

You ever wondered what happened on those other 11, 50 plus days? Like, did the disciples do laundry? Was that like a thing? You think? Did they take a vacation?

Did they rest somewhere? What did they do? Did they just do ordinary everyday stuff?

You know, because I spend most of my days doing ordinary everyday stuff. Like, does that count in the life of a disciple?

You see, Christian maturity, it's not about doing more. Eugene Peterson says it this way. He says Christian maturity is not a matter of doing more for God. Is God doing more in and through us? Dallas Willard, we looked at his kind of version of the same statement that the most important thing God gets out of our life is not the stuff we do, but the person that we become.

But when we place ourselves at the center of every story or every passage we encounter, then growth becomes exhausting, right? But if Jesus is at the center, if God is at the center, if each story is trying to highlight and show us something about God, then growth becomes a byproduct of worship. It becomes the overflow of a heart that's given to God. You see, some of us are wired like Peter. Some of us are.

Peter's right. We're type A, we're action oriented. We're ready to take a risk. Let's go. Let's do it.

Let's get out of the boat. Some of us are like Matthew, we calculate some things. Some of, you know, I'm a twin I'm a fraternal twin. I have a twin sister. If she were standing here on stage, you wouldn't necessarily know that we go together because she's like 5 foot nothing, maybe 100 pounds soaking wet.

But my sister is a bulldog, man. She's an eight on the Enneagram. And she spent most of her career standing up for abused and neglected children. And I can tell you this, you don't want to mess with my sister when it comes to taking care of kids, right? She's type A.

She's, let's get out of the boat. There's nothing going to stand in between me and taking care of this child. And that I love. It's one of the things I admire so much about my sister. Courage.

I love her courage, right? She's got that courage where I'm the Matthew guy. I'm like, you know, I remember we get in trouble at home, and my dad was a big dude. I've told you some stories about my dad, right? And my dad, you know, and so in not so many words, but you want to step outside and see who's man?

And me, I'm like, nope, I'm doing the calculations. You're three times the size as me. I'll stay right here. Thank you. You know, my sister, who's smaller than me, is like, you want to dance, old man?

Let's dance. And I'm like, he's gonna kill you. Don't do that. You know, she's like, let's go, dude. You think you're tough.

I'm tough. You know, I love that courage about her, right? But does everybody have to be like that? I'm not wired that way. As much as I want to be.

I'm not wired like so. I'm in a boat, like, So. Some good news for me, maybe for you this week. Jesus doesn't ask us to be Peter.

He doesn't say, I just wish you guys were a little more like Peter. Why can't you be more like Peter?

That's the voice in my head. That's not God's voice. In fact, Jesus didn't even invite Peter to walk on the water. Did you notice that Peter asked, hey, Jesus, if it's you, can I tell me to come? And Jesus says, okay, come.

And he starts to sink. And I love to tell the story and go, why did he sink? When Jesus says, oh, you of little faith, who did Peter doubt? Jesus is standing on the water. The problem ain't Jesus.

Peter's the one who's sinking, right? What if that's not the most important thing about the story, girl? What if that's not the most important thing? What if this story could work even if you stayed in the boat?

See, the miracle still would have happened if Peter hadn't gotten out of the boat. Jesus was already walking on water and he would calm the sea. And we know it because everybody worshiped. The point of the story is not. Did Peter get out of the boat?

No. No. The point of the story is Jesus has the power and he called them to be his, and he's called you to be his.

You know, we sometimes make this mistake, like the story of Mary and Martha, right? Mary's sitting at Jesus feet and Martha's, like, working Jesus. Can't you tell my sister to do her job? Jesus says, oh, Mary, oh, Martha. If you were just a little more like your sister Mary.

That's not what he says.

You see, Jesus doesn't flatten personalities. He redeems them.

Peter wasn't more bold after the resurrection, or rather, less bold. He was more formed. He was more shaped into the man. God was creating him. And Jesus was helping him to become.

He didn't turn him into someone else. He turned him into a better version of himself.

So here's the invitation this morning, church invitation. I think of Matthew 14 and maybe all of scripture.

This could be stopped. Trying to get further along by becoming somebody else. Can we stop using these stories and these passages as a measuring stick of our performance? And instead, would we let them invite us into wonder, into astonishment once again with our incredible God who can walk on water, who can calm wind and waves with just a word? You see, transformation flows not from.

From trying harder, but from seeing God more clearly and understanding who it is who loves you and who it is who calls you and who it is who says, if you're weary and if you're burdened, come to me. Not become somebody else. Not turn into your sister or bring me more like your brother or wish you're more like your dad or your. No. No.

It's become who God created you to be in Jesus by His power and by his strength. You see, he's forming you not into some other person, but into the best version of you. He's inviting you to become who he created you to be. So our weekly challenge this week, church, is this. Would you look for God in Scripture this week as you have your quiet time and a chance to sit down and read a story?

Some of you are doing the read through the Bible in a year. Some of you are doing other kinds of stuff. I just invite you to ask this question first. What do I learn about God?

What does this passage teach me about the God who created me? The God who knows every hair or lack of hair on my head.

He knows what I love and he knows what I struggle with. He knows my hopes and he knows my fears. What is this God? Who is this God? Would you allow it to lead you, like all 100% of the disciples in the boat that day into worship?

That's my prayer is that this week as we encounter God in scripture, that it would invite us and challenge us into worship. That we'd give thanks for who God is and thanks that God is helping us to become the person we were created to be. Father, that is my prayer for us as a church. That you would help us find you in scripture this week. That as we read these words, these living words, that the goal of them is not to try to make us become all the same person, but rather to help us become who you created us to be.

That these stories, each and every one, are examples of how the disciples tried to in real time, learn to work it out. And so you had some disciples like Peter who just were jump out into the water. And God, we thank you for those Christians, those believers, those followers of you who just are wired up that way. God, would you help those in our church this morning who are the Peters like that, Would you help them become the best version of themselves? That they'd use that courage and that risk taking and that willingness to.

To leverage for things that really matter, like your kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven.

Thank God for those of us, maybe the rest of us who are the 92% in the boat. God, faith means something for us too. Following you means something too. That each and every disciple as we actually follow them across the lake and get back on the land that we see. Each one you have gifted for a purpose and a reason.

And the promise isn't to make them into somebody that they're not, but instead to help them be formed into the Son, the daughter of you that they were created to be.

So God may scripture this week be an invitation into worship. Would you meet us right where we are? Would you help us to discover you in a new way? That God may lead us to worship, to love, to deeper joy and hope. That we begin to see ourselves less and less by our failures, more and more by who you're calling us to be, who you've created us to be and who God, you said you've given us your spirit.

The same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is that same spirit you've given to us.

That spirit has power and that spirit has fruit that will be born in our life. If we'll just commit to trusting you and to following you, God, would you give us that courage to just take our next step, whatever that may be? Would you help us, God? Thank you for being with us. Thank you for loving us, God.

We want to feel it, we want to experience it, we want to see it with us this week. God, would you help us to have eyes and ears to hear once again that the God who created the universe was not willing to sit by and watch the world and all those in it go to hell and instead you sent your son, your one and only son, Jesus, you were willing to give it all up to come to this earth to show us a way back to you, God. May we be gripped by that again this week, whether we're reading the Old Testament or the new, wherever. If we find ourselves in your word, God, would you open up our eyes and our ears to see you once again for who you truly are? Thank you Father, for loving us.

Thank you for inviting us. Thank you for helping us become who you created us to be. Lord. We want that. Would you help us take our next step in Jesus name?

Amen.ciple as we actually follow them across the lake and get back on the land that we see. Each one you have gifted for a purpose and a reason.

And the promise isn't to make them into somebody that they're not, but instead to help them be formed into the Son, the daughter of you that they were created to be.

So God may scripture this week be an invitation into worship. Would you meet us right where we are? Would you help us to discover you in a new way? That God may lead us to worship, to love, to deeper joy and hope. That we begin to see ourselves less and less by our failures, more and more by who you're calling us to be, who you've created us to be and who God, you said you've given us your spirit.

The same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is that same spirit you've given to us.

That spirit has power and that spirit has fruit that will be born in our life. If we'll just commit to trusting you and to following you, God, would you give us that courage to just take our next step, whatever that may be? Would you help us, God? Thank you for being with us. Thank you for loving us, God.

We want to feel it, we want to experience it, we want to see it with us this week. God, would you help us to have eyes and ears to hear once again that the God who created the universe was not willing to sit by and watch the world and all those in it go to hell and instead you sent your son, your one and only son, Jesus, you were willing to give it all up to come to this earth to show us a way back to you, God. May we be gripped by that again this week, whether we're reading the Old Testament or the new, wherever. If we find ourselves in your word, God, would you open up our eyes and our ears to see you once again for who you truly are? Thank you Father, for loving us.

Thank you for inviting us. Thank you for helping us become who you created us to be. Lord. We want that. Would you help us take our next step in Jesus name?

Amen.